ODU survives Delle Donne

Elena Delle Donne appeared destined to take down Old Dominion all by herself during the second half of Saturday's first CAA semifinal.

The CAA Player of the Year didn't just lead Delaware on the scoreboard in the second half — she was its only scorer.

The 6-foot-5 guard accounted for all 16 of the Blue Hens' second-half points, but Delle Donne's final shot, an off-balance jumper with four seconds left, clanked off the rim and glass to the left of the basket.

The top-seeded Lady Monarchs corralled the rebound to grab a 50-49 victory at James Madison's Convocation Center and secure a spot in today's championship game against second-seeded JMU.

"You know where they're going down the stretch, there's no question about it. Whether you can defend her is another thing," ODU coach Wendy Larry said of Delle Donne, the nation's second-leading scorer at 26.6 points per game. "When she's in a zone, she's in a zone, and we were fortunate that last shot she took didn't drop."

ODU (18-12) took its first lead of the second half with 1:34 left when sophomore center Mairi Buchan made a layup to cap a 9-0 run for the Lady Monarchs.

Sophomore forward Tia Lewis hit what proved to be the game-winning basket with 22.6 seconds remaining, hauling down a rebound after Buchan's missed shot for the layup that helped send ODU to its 18th CAA championship game in 19 years.

The Lady Monarchs' 17-year championship run ended last year in the semifinals with a loss to Drexel.

ODU gave itself a shot at regaining the conference crown by bouncing back Saturday from a lethargic first half, which ended with a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from Della Donne that sent the Blue Hens (21-11) bouncing up the stairs to the locker room with energy.

"Our focus coming out for the second half was just to come out with energy," Canady said.

Delle Donne's energy appeared to start draining at about the 8-minute mark, Larry said.

"I thought, 'OK, maybe we can just make a run now,' " Larry said, "but as great players do, they find a way."

But nobody else from Delaware could find a way to get the ball in the basket. Delle Donne had the Blue Hens' four second-half field goals; the rest of the team went 0-for-12.

"When you have someone like Elena Delle Donne, who I think is an All-American, obviously the offense is going to go through her and rightfully so," Delaware coach Tina Martin said. "But we need to knock down some of those opportunities, those other shots that our team got."

Despite the absence of offense from anybody other than Delle Donne, the Blue Hens still were one shot away from knocking off the top seed in ODU.

And that, Larry said, shows just how talented the Delaware native and UConn transfer is.

"She uses her height to get over her defender," said the 6-foot-3 Lewis, who had the task of guarding Delle Donne for much of the game. "For me to defend her, I had to keep my hands up, but at times I would bend over and use my wingspan, and she would just shoot over me. ... She's just a smart offensive player."